SH1 Shattered Like Glass
by Lamby
Summary: Shades of Heroes Series Part 1: events out of their control land the XMen in the spotlight and bring the military down on them. Can they ride it out or will the team be shattered like glass? AU to X3.
1. Chapter 1

#Shades of Heroes Series Part 1: events out of their control land the X-Men in the spotlight and bring the military down on them. Can they ride it out or will the team be shattered like glass? #

**Disclaimer:** Making no money out of this

**A/N: **Back again! This is the first part of four fics, so you're going to have to be patient with me to get to the end of the tale. I've never tried to write something that is quite as serial as this, so I'd really appreciate any comments you have on how I do? Reviews are always welcome. Luv Lamby

**Shattered Like Glass: Scene 01**

The night was young. The streets were busy with the Saturday night commute, shoppers leaving and revellers arriving by foot or yellow cab. Thousands of people blitzing New York City dressed in their best and intent on having a spectacular time. Neon lights throbbed, offering a stolen and bleak redemption. The air smelt rich with aromas of car exhausts, food cooking and garbage rotting in darkened alleyways. Overhead the skydimmed and grew heavy as though tired of the world. It would rain soon, wash litter from the gutters and flood the storm drains. Yet despite this the temperature was mild, and the teenager wasn't cold even though she didn't wear a coat.

Samantha Hawley was breaking the rules again, but at least this time she wasn't dragging her school chums along with her. No, Shockwave had left them watching a film and stuffing their faces with popcorn, along with most of the other pupils of the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. The tall brunette, her hair in a sleekly styled ponytail with copper and blond streaked bangs around her face, had feigned a headache and ducked out of another night being treated like a child. She was seventeen, and in desperate need of some fun.

Tugging her ruby sequined top straight over her toned form, Sam crossed the road nonchalantly, waiting for a break in the constant sigh of the traffic to dart across. She dived into a bar as the heavens finally opened as though God was trying to wash the city clean. Glancing round with her sharp hazel-green eyes, Sam's shoes clicked on the hard, polished floors. Until like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a speeding car she stopped dead.

Pyro, the former student of the Xavier School, though he'd left a good five years ago to join the swelling ranks of the Brotherhood of Mutants. Shockwave had not been at the school when John had been there, but she'd met him just after her mutant power had developed. She'd broken his collarbone and left him by the side of the road two years ago. No doubt he would still hold a grudge if he saw her tonight, but Sam was nosy by nature and she wasn't about to leave without finding out what Pyro was up to.

The small booth Pyro sat in was lit by a low orange glow. Whilst he sat facing the front door and Sam at a slight angle, the partition wall and the subdued illumination concealed the person he was talking to. Sam walked forward carefully, taking in how little John's appearance had changed since she'd first met him. His blond hair slicked was back from his forehead and a day or two's worth of stubble ran across his jaw. He was smiling as he manhandled a beer bottle, didn't notice the teen watching him. Too busy flirting, Sam realised indignantly. Indeed Pyro was talking flamboyantly and all the while maintaining eye contact with the girl he was sat with…

Shockwave's blood boiled as she recognised Pyro's companion. A young woman dressed in flared chocolate cords that matched her mocha suede, v-necked strappy top. As usual, the woman's long red ringlet curls hung loose about her shoulders almost to her waist. Her full rose lips smiled, taking Pyro's attention easily. His hand stroked her upper leg. Her hand brushed his across the tabletop as she reached for her soft drink. And when Shockwave cried out in her betrayed anger at her teacher, the X-Man turned with her chestnut eyes dilating in surprise.

"Traitor!" Shockwave accused the X-Man, barely noticing Blaze flinching as though slapped. "Hanging out with one of them!" Her tone filled the words with venomous insults, spitting the word 'them' as though it tasted bad.

"Shockwave!" Blaze lurched to her feet, knocking Pyro's drink all over him. "Sam, what are you doing here?" Her accent was English, her tone panicked. As well it should be, Sam thought.

"I don't think you're in any position to challenge me about what I'm doing Blaze." Sam's father was a senator. Sometimes it showed, sometimes it didn't. "Xavier is going to flip over this, you cheap slut!"

Blaze stormed towards the younger mutant, her strappy shoes pounding the floorboards. Quicker than Sam could react the redhead had hold of her by her bare arm and was dragging her to the ladies room. Sam squealed, gasping "Hot! You're burning me!" Blaze knew she was hurting her student, but she didn't let go until she'd got Shockwave through the door and was stood blocking the only escape route. Sam rubbed her scalded arm, staring Blaze down with angry green eyes.

"Don't think you can bully me into keeping my mouth shut. I'm not scared of you Blaze!"

"You stupid little brat!" Blaze accosted Sam, spreading her arms wide in a dramatic gesture. "This isn't what you think! I'm on a mission here!"

"To get laid off one of the Brotherhood? You make me sick!" Sam tried to get past Blaze, only succeeding in getting pushed up against a washstand by an infuriated Blaze.

"An X-Man mission, Shockwave! Can't you get that into your thick head? And you turning up has just made it a whole lot more difficult!"

"What kind of mission involves you flirting with Pyro?" Sam spat back nastily. "I really don't see how that's going to further mutant-human relati0ns!"

"Do you really think the only missions the X-Men ever go on are the ones in uniform on the X-Jet, rushing to save the day at the last minute? Oh please Sam, its not that simple!" Blaze groaned exasperatedly.

"I refuse to believe the Professor ordered you to do this…"

"The Professor is a leader, Sam, and a damn good one!" Blaze put her hands on the mirror to either side of Sam's head, blocking her in. The heat warped the glass and made it shatter, making Sam wince. "He knows his team's strengths and weaknesses. Think about it, if he needs someone to talk to business or government types he asks Scott because they are impressed with how perfectly anal he is! If he needs someone to talk to scientists he sends Hank or Vixen, because they speak the same language! He sends Logan after those only interested in violence, Gambit after criminals and rogues who need it putting in underworld terms for them… That's why Wolverine and Remy are away so much, what they do has to be kept as distant as possible from the school!"

"I get all that." Shockwave confirmed. "I don't get why you're chatting up the guy who kidnapped me for Mystique so she could blackmail Dad!"

"For information!" Blaze hissed. "Xavier knows I can get at men like Pyro in ways no other X-Man can! We know more about what the Brotherhood are up to now than we ever have, all because he's trying to impress me! He's put his own life on the line though and he knows it. If Magneto or Mystique find out he's been seeing me…"

"This has been going on for a while? Blaze you're sick!"

"Sam listen to me! Pyro thinks none of the X-Men know what's going on. If he thinks you're going to tell them, he'll clam up. Or worse, he'll try and kill us both to protect himself!" Blaze strove to make the girl understand, but Sam was having none of it. She ducked out from under Blaze's arms and stepped away, shaking her head.

"I don't believe you. I'm telling the Professor, and there's nothing you can do about it, traitor…"


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** Making no money out of this

**Shattered Like Glass: Scene 02**

"You convinced her to keep her big ugly mouth shut?" Pyro entered the rest room without a thought, coming up behind Blaze and putting his hands on her hips. His dangerous eyes were on Shockwave though, looking her over, making her shudder.

"I hope so." Blaze glared at her pupil, tilting her head to one side so Pyro could kiss her neck. Neither X-Man nor Brotherhood crony took their eyes off Sam for a second.

"We could make sure." Pyro offered flippantly, reaching for his lighter from his back pocket. "It'd be safer."

"Keep away from me!" Sam raised her hands threateningly, feeling her finger bones start to vibrate with the swelling of her fear and her mutant power.

"No Pyro, I can't let you…"

"Oh please Blaze, its not like anyone would be able to ID the body after we're finished with it." There was actually a hint of laughter in Pyro's voice. "Nobodies gonna know…"

He flicked the lighter, producing a small flame. Slowly he used his other hand, calling the fire across Blaze's front to form a fireball in his open palm. Sam swallowed, glancing at Blaze. The redhead pursed her lips and her eyes glazed over slightly. Sam knew that look; Blaze was getting ready to use her own powers. They were going to kill her!

"Get away from me!" Sam screamed, flinging her right hand out so that it smashed against the white tiles along the wall. Her mutation kicked in, shattering the tiles. It sent shards of porcelain and bucketfuls of dust flying through the air. Blaze and Pyro both turned away, covering their eyes. With that, Sam spun on her heels and fled back out the door into the bar. Pyro started after her, fireball still in his hand he went to throw it at the retreating girl, intent on murder.

He didn't succeed. Blaze snapped out a hand and sucked the fireball right back to herself. A glance to the lighter and it exploded, all its fuel used up in one blast that stung Pyro's hand. He gasped, shaking his fingers to restore the feeling. His eyes locked with Blaze's and he started towards her violently.

Blaze took his punch with a gasp, hands still full of the fire she had stolen from him. Her head hit against the side of a stall, the fire jumping to ignite the partition. Pyro drew his fist back again, ready to kill her. This time Blaze ducked and his fist went into the partition. She blasted him with fire of her own creating, knowing it wouldn't burn him but would at least knock him back. She sprinted for the door, but Pyro put in a flying tackle, arms stretched to wrap around her legs.

Blaze jumped, kicking out. Her shoe caught Pyro hard under the jaw. He made a strange strangled noise, rolling away. Blaze left him and ran out into the bar, just in time to see Sam disappearing through the rain outside.

This time Sam didn't wait for a break in the traffic, sprinting through the pounding rain into the middle of the road. A cab screeched as the driver braked sharply, the greasy road giving him no traction to stop. Bracing herself, Shockwave palmed off the halting car, her mutation splintering out from her vibrating finger bones, the shockwaves that were her namesake fracturing yellow paint and metal. The driver gasped at the rain-soaked teen as the crunching sound of his car being destroyed filled the air. Then Shockwave was gone again, darting for the subway.

"Sam!" Blaze let the bar door slam behind her. The cold rain stung the Firefly's warm skin like lead pellets. She found herself breathless as she waited for the cars to make short work of the teenager. The crunching sound of metal being attacked by Shockwave's power filled the air, and then Sam was gone. Blaze could do nothing but dart after her, taking the steps down into the subway three at a time, pushing punters out of the way without a thought.

The train in the platform was ready to leave, its doors bleeping ahead of sliding closed. Blaze leapfrogged the ticket barrier and sprinted to shove a hand in to block the impending closure. The doors slid open again at the obstruction, and Blaze sidestepped through. Shockwave saw her coming and had no wish to be sweet-talked by her least-favourite teacher into keeping her mouth shut. Staggering forward slightly as the train accelerated out of the platform, Sam didn't glance back. She fought her way through the other passengers towards the front of the train.

Light was a mirage of sparks and churning blue bulbs, flickering in and out of reality as the train picked up speed. It squealed along the tracks like a horse in pain. Little madmen ground their teeth and whispered curses whilst the more normal passengers ignored them and pretended all was usual. Striding from handhold to handhold, bracing herself as the train took a long sweeping corner, Shockwave realised her error. She was trapped and in major trouble the minute she got back to the school. It would be her word against a respected member of the X-Men that Blaze was a traitor.

Contemplating her certain doom even as Blaze arrived in the front carriage with Samantha, all pretence of sense was suddenly knocked out of Shockwave's skull. She skidded forwards at a rate of knots, unable to judge up from down as the darkness became suddenly absolute. The deafening noise that surrounded her was only silenced as Sam's jaw slammed into something cold and hard, and she was knocked unconscious.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** Making no money out of this

**Shattered Like Glass: Scene 03**

Blaze arrived in the front carriage of the train, knowing Sam had run out of room to run. She took a breath, striving to calm herself, as she reached out to her pupil with a fine-boned hand. Abruptly the floor was thrown out from under her, her feet skidding as gravity refused to play, noise pounding her bones as she began to fall.

Crunching, whistling, screaming. The train rapidly decelerated, derailed and fell sideways. Blaze's hand grabbed something solid and she hung on for dear life. Blackness was absolute, and she couldn't see or hear Shockwave. The floor was gone, Blaze swung by one arm from a slick metal rail and she didn't know how much longer she could hold on.

What happened next was far stranger than anything so far. The train groaned and buckled, as somehow it found its way roughly level again against the spin of the derailment. Blaze gasped as her arm muscles tore and she dropped back to the ground. What was going on? Screams from the other passengers, sobs and wails replaced the shattering of glass and the crunching of broken engineering. Could it be over? Where was Sam?

The teenager was curled up childlike, half under a seat. Blood dripped from a bust lip, and she looked like she'd be badly bruised at least. However she was breathing and her pulse was strong as Blaze took the moment of relative peace and tried to coax Sam to waking.

"Sam, come on, wake up," kneeling, Blaze lifted the teen into her arms, brushing Sam's dyed hair back from her face. With a spluttered cough, Sam was suddenly writhing away from her teacher looking dazed.

"What happened?" Sam asked breathlessly, as Blaze took the girl's jaw and tried to see if she had concussion. "I'm fine Blaze," Shockwave decreed, pulling away. "Just tell me what's…"

Her words were cut short by a thud as deafening as a plane taking off, and another one, and another. The whole train rocked with the force of the attack, making the trapped passengers scream and wail louder. Blaze stood, stepping past Sam towards the driver's cab, trying to figure out what was going on.

A wrenching sound not unlike a rusty door being opened or a tooth being pulled filled the air. Sam covered her ears and pulled a face. Blaze couldn't help but wince, holding on to a handrail and watching as the driver's cab was jerked apart. A huge hand, at least twice the size of a normal man's, pushed and pulled at the unresisting metal. The fabric of the train bent like grass in the wind. Blaze realised another mutant was at work here. She turned back to Sam in a flurry of fiery energy and lashings of red curls.

"Get to the back of the train, use your powers. We need a safe exit to get these people out." It was an order, and whilst Sam would normally rile against it for that fact, she too could see a huge red-booted foot kicking in the front of the train. Whoever was attacking the vehicle would be in here any second. Sam ran.

"Listen to me!" Blaze shouted to the other passengers above their own noise and the noise of the mutant still breaking in. "Go to the back of the train! Don't run; help each other!" No one listened to her, too panicked to understand that the twenty-five year old Englishwoman might have a point.

Indignant and afraid, Blaze grabbed the nearest passenger by the scuff of his neck and forcefully threw him to stagger after Shockwave. Further up the train she could hear Sam doing the same thing, getting people to their feet and pointing them to the rear of the last carriage. Finally people seemed to be getting the idea and Blaze could turn her attention back to the events behind her.

She'd barely turned back to the ruined front of the train, bracing herself as a wave of Shockwave's power rippled through the vehicle. A small cheer accompanied Sam's new doorway opening, but Blaze didn't notice as the crushed body of the train driver was flung at her feet. His skull was flattened, oozing blood and brains like a bug that had been stepped on. Blaze gasped, eyes drifting from the dead man to the goliath who wrenched himself free of the last remnants of metal that barred his way…


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** Making no money out of this

**Shattered Like Glass: Scene 04**

Huge about covered the size of this human Juggernaut. Blaze recognised Xavier's brother instantly, dressed in his garish red body armour and fish bowl helmet. She may never have fought him before, but she knew enough about Cain Marko to know she didn't have a chance.

Briefly the X-Man glanced over her shoulder, catching Shockwave's eye as the girl helped the last few slow-moving passengers out into the relative safety of the tunnel. Sam nodded once, recognising the silent plea in Blaze's eyes. Blaze didn't watch her pupil leave. Instead she observed Juggernaut, as he looked her over dispassionately, chuckling.

"What's this, some kinda joke?" Cain asked, eyes hard behind his helmet. "You come as a half-drowned rat or somethin' titch?"

Irritated, Blaze used a fraction of her power to dry herself off after the rain. Steam evaporated from her glistening skin and hair. Looking up at the gigantic man who towered over her, Blaze kept telling herself that all she had to do was keep him busy. Give the passengers time to get away. He may be strong, but she'd bet that she was quicker.

"Let me guess," She taunted him while taking a half step backwards, "It was raining outside so you thought you'd take a stroll through the subway? Can't have your helmet rusting now, can we now Juggernaut?"

"Ho-ho." Juggernaut smiled cruelly, "You don't happen to know my irritating brother do you?" Blaze tilted her head and gave him a soulless lopsided smile, watching the huge muscles tense in Cain's neck as he readied his attack. His swinging punch would have knocked her out cold, but Blaze leaped lithely onto a seat at the last second. Grabbing hold of a vertical bar, she wrapped one hand and one long leg around it, using her momentum to swing her round. The action confused Juggernaut. Now she was behind him, and he was forced to try and turn around in the confined space.

"Didn't know," Juggernaut grunted, punching a seat out of the way, "That my goody-two-shoes brother consorted with pole dancers. Maybe there's hope for him yet."

"Maybe," Blaze agreed, not rising to his slur on her. Ducking under his outstretched arm again, she knew she couldn't keep this up for long. Time to heat things up. Backing away with her hands extended, Blaze summoned the well of red-hot power that resided inside of her. Opening her clenched fists, blasts of her scorching firepower exploded in bright orange contrast to the gloomy darkness.

"What the?" Juggernaut cried, raising a hand to protect his eyes as the fire pounded off his body. It sprayed this way and that like champagne against a crystal glass. "That tickles!" Blaze wasn't done, although her fire wasn't strong enough to burn him through the armour. With a step forward this time, she let the fire loose. Black and crimson, the flames flowed like larva over the ceiling of the train. It drank gallons of oxygen and created scorching heat. Invincible or not Blaze didn't think Juggernaut could stand either of those changes for long.

She was right, but Blaze had to be able to breathe too. The realisation accompanied a moment's gasping breath and a loss of concentration. Juggernaut roared his defiance. He thudded his massive fist into her stomach and sent her flying up the other end of the carriage. Unable to resist Blaze's body clattered seats and handrails, leaving her in a heap. The Juggernaut put his head down and charged, picking up speed. Blaze rolled and half-lurched to her feet, dragging herself up the carriage and out the 'door' Sam had created. Then she collapsed.

Juggernaut's eyes were only on the stubborn girl who'd dare to face off against him. He charged thunderously down the train and raised his fists to bash through the second rent in the train's fabric. Only when he hopped down onto the gravel and the tracks did he notice that something had changed in the blackness. The girl was not quivering afraid as she looked up at him. Cain couldn't understand it. He'd given her a taste of his power, and shown he was intent on crushing her completely.

Blaze smiled sharply, dragging herself up into a sitting position and caressing her stomach. Dark shapes moved behind her and Cain realised what had happened. Damn it, his brother's interfering cavalry had arrived! The X-Men…

A powerful blast of scarlet red light lit up the tunnel like daytime in hell, as Cyclops grimly held the trigger on his visor open. He hit Juggernaut straight in the chest, making the bigger man grunt and his eyes dilate. Yet it would take much more than Scott Summers was capable of to bring down the Juggernaut.

Ororo Munroe stood next to Cyclops, the weather-witch and African goddess known as Storm. Her hair was long and illusively white, almost translucent like the clouds. It danced in the breeze she called about her. The strength of a gale at her behest pummelled Juggernaut so much he had to raise a hand to break the sting of Blaze's ashes filling his eyes, as the wind stirred the flames on the train into a new frenzy.

A surreal and unnatural fuchsia-orange glow swept through the air in the fingertips of a tall man stood just behind Blaze. His trench coat distorted his dark silhouette. Remy le Beau, Gambit, threw the playing card he'd charged directly at Juggernaut's face, gritting his teeth grimly as the explosion knocked the goliath backwards slightly.

The amazing Nightcrawler knew how to pick his moment. He bamfed beyond the explosion to kick the Juggernaut further over the brink into a fall he could not recover from. The earth shook as Juggernaut hit the ground. Kurt Wagner teleported to safety with his tail flicking the air around him in a self-satisfied way. Iceman blasted Juggernaut then, Bobby Drake's blue eyes cold as he pinned the bigger man in a cocoon of ice.

Shadowcat passed through the train itself to approach Juggernaut from behind, bringing along her former classmate Jubilation Lee. The two girls went straight for the buckles that kept the telepathy-disabling helmet secured around Juggernaut's shoulders. The girls then backed off quickly as the ice that held the big man started to crack.

Wolverine was not so easily spooked. Claws of adimantium raced through his knuckles as the feral man charged in with a roar. A fluidic movement of Logan's left arm and the helmet was knocked away from Juggernaut's head. It flew for a moment before clattering to the ground, rolling in circles like the top from a beer bottle. Wolverine snarled, turning back to his prey with his teeth bared, ready to slice this loser's throat…

A pale hand on Logan's shoulder and a wash of calming thoughts stopped the animalistic mutant in his stride. His brown eyes locked briefly with the deep Xavier blue ones, before the woman broke away. She flicked a long blonde ponytail back over a slender shoulder and looked down on Cain Marko with stark scepticism.

"Well, if it ain't my little niece," Juggernaut spat, unnerved at having to look up at someone for once. "Ilehana, how are you keeping?"

#Sleep, # Ilehana Xavier didn't bother with being drawn into an argument with this man. The Vixen put a hand to the sweaty forehead of the ginger-haired man and sent him into a telepathically induced slumber. Cyclops gave Xavier's daughter a nod and a small smile at a job well done, one that Vixen appreciated.

"Good timing," Blaze thanked her teammates, accepting Gambit's hand up, clutching her stomach as it spasmed with pain. The wetness of blood under her fingers combined with a wave of dizziness, and she was very glad that Gambit didn't let go of her.

"No problem," Logan told her, letting his claws slide back through his knuckles with a smooth snickt. "Now lets get outta here…"


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** Making no money out of this

**Shattered Like Glass: Scene 05**

They left Juggernaut where he lay, snoring on the train tracks for the authorities to find. Without a word about her squeak of protest, the X-Men surrounded Shockwave and marched her back up to the platform. They climbed the halted escalator to street level, Blaze still holding her bruised stomach but not asking for any quarter from her teammates. Nevertheless Gambit hovered besides her just in case. For a moment, the fresh air was a sigh of peace to them all as the battle was over.

It didn't last. There was one luminous flash of a stills camera, and then all manner of noise and kafuffle broke out as film crews, reporters and police all tried to see what was going on. The X-Men had walked straight into the melee, stopping dead as they realised what was going on. They'd ambled into a trap, maybe not one that had been deliberately set, but a trap nonetheless.

"Shit…" Blaze breathed, thief's instincts running wild at all these people looking at her. At her right hand Gambit was no less unnerved, red-on-black eyes narrowing with suspicion as he stood straighter and dared the reporters to pick a fight.

"Keep together." Scott took the lead, voice in neutral and carrying well despite the hubbub. "We're just going to walk through them. Ilehana I know you'll do what you can. Storm maybe this rain could get a little worse?"

Naked in the torrential rain, the secret of the X-Men was left tattered and in flames. Shoulder to shoulder and dressed in black Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine and Vixen lead the way. Shockwave heard gasps as she knew she was recognised, a prominent pro-mutant senator's mutant daughter. In his heart Nightcrawler felt only pity for the shallow-minded fools who cried out at his unusual appearance. Shadowcat felt colour rising in her cheeks, longed for the opportunity to let the earth swallow her up with all these eyes on her.

They were helpless. Despite Ilehana's telepathic suggestions, despite Storm's pelting weather, despite Jubilee, Shadowcat and Gambit trying to slyly disable as much equipment as they could with a secretive touch. The world watched over and over during the next few hours and even days as these strange mutants walked out from the shadows. On TV sets in homes across the nation and the world, the huge Juggernaut was pulled out of the ground fast asleep. Witnesses came forward, not just passengers on the train, but men and women who'd recognised the uniforms of the mutants they'd seen on the TV.

Liberty Island was mentioned, and attacks on the White House on two separate occasions. A war once declared on the same very streets of New York between mutants and the Friends of Humanity… Those uniforms, those same mutants, and now this. A country in turmoil and most worrying of all, a conspiracy of cover-ups and lame excuses that stretched to the highest levels of government, to the President himself.

Yet as of now the X-Men knew nothing of what would come to pass after their brave walk through the media circus. The X-Jet was concealed on a rooftop across the street. As soon as they cleared the crowds the X-Men made a hasty retreat to their craft. Cyclops buckled himself into the pilot's seat and started the protocols for launch. At his side Storm's eyes were white as she called down even heavier rain and dense fog to mask their disappearance. Sam stood hesitantly, unsure of what to do as the X-Men took their places.

"Kid, sit down." Logan growled, practically pushing her into a seat across the way from his. Sam did as she was told, her wet clothing causing her to shiver profusely. The take-off was rapid, the acceleration pinned her back into her seat as she gripped the edges of the chair instinctively. Only when the jet was level did she open her eyes again.

"Let me see." Dr Xavier, Vixen, was helping Blaze out of her seat and to a section at the rear of the plane equipped with benches rather than seats. Blaze lay back on the cushioned bench and peeled her top back from the sticky blood-covered wound underneath.

"I think part of his armour caught me when he punched me…" Blaze's voice was short with pain, her breathing uneven.

"Don't help her!" Shockwave cried out, turning in her seat and undoing her harness. Clambering to her feet she tried to explain herself. "She's a traitor! She was out with Pyro!"

"Jeez…" Jubilee rolled her eyes as she looked up at Shockwave. Gambit didn't respond to the accusation, pushing past Shockwave bluntly and going to the back of the jet with Ilehana and Blaze. Sam glared after him, but Jubilee was still talking. "Don't humiliate her much, will you Shockwave? Like she hasn't done enough for you tonight stopping Juggernaut from pulverising you."

"You knew?" Shockwave couldn't believe it.

"Kid I'm not gonna tell you again." Wolverine growled, pointing at the seat Shockwave had vacated. "Sit, or I'll make you sit."

Unsurprisingly, Shockwave sat.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** Making no money out of this

**A/N: **Sorry for the mild delay, I've been off work on holiday so my days of the week has gone all screwy! Happy Christmas to one and all, sorry I've no feastive story this year, so you'll have to make do with random action/adventure/angst as per usual! Enjoy, and don't forget to review. Luv Lamby

**Shattered Like Glass: Scene 06**

"How bad is it?" Gambit asked, lurking behind Ilehana. He didn't need an answer though as he peered down on where Blaze was unfastening the button on her trousers, exposing more battered flesh. There was an awful lot of blood stemming from a gash as long as Gambit's hand across Blaze's stomach. Equally as bad as that, there seemed to be a lot of internal bleeding as Blaze's pale skin was turning black and blue.

"I can staple it closed and patch you up." Ilehana confirmed, poking at the wound to see how deep it went. "But it will hurt, all right?"

"You'd better sedate me." Blaze gasped. "My controls are all over the place Vixen, the pain wont help…"

"Sorry Blaze, you know I can't. We need you lucid when we get back to the mansion for the debriefing."

"Vixen listen to me." Blaze pleaded. "There is a fuel tank two feet below me. The pressure is already slightly higher than normal. Also the engines are running five degrees hotter. If I can't stifle my powers right now, this whole jet will explode."

"She's right." Cyclops confirmed from the front of the plane without Vixen even needing to ask him. "Engines are hot, and the pressure is building." At that Logan got out of his seat and went to examine the consoles for himself. Shadowcat and Nightcrawler exchanged worried looks. Bobby, Shockwave and Jubilee turned in their seats to watch what was happening at the rear. "I don't know how she knows that, but she's right Ilehana. Even down to where the tank is…" That obviously confused Scott, Blaze had never shown any interest in engineering as long as she'd been an X-Man.

"I'll give you a local, and help you telepathically." Vixen compromised. Blaze didn't look convinced, touching the sticky blood on her stomach tentatively.

"Chere." Gambit spoke calmly, taking a seat behind Blaze and lifting her head onto his lap. She looked up at him desperately, letting him take her hands in his. Vixen went for the med kit and removed the sterile staples from the packet. It was a medical stapler, much quicker than sewing stitches, and more effective for such a gash. All she had to do was pull the two sides of the wound closed and click a button, hoping that Blaze didn't move too much.

Vixen injected a strong local anaesthetic directly above the wound. Blaze winced but didn't make a sound as the needle pierced her skin. They waited a few moments until Blaze nodded that her stomach had gone numb and tingly. Just to test, Vixen tried layering the two sides of the wound back close to each other again. Blaze didn't do anything more than blink a few involuntary tears from her eyes. She was lucky, Ilehana thought, there was no flesh missing so the wound should heal smoothly.

Blaze jerked suddenly at the sound of the stapler firing more than at the sensation of the staple piercing her flesh. Squeezing Gambit's hands tightly, she clenched her jaw and screwed her eyes tight shut. The sensation of someone strong pinning down her ankles made her glance up again. Wolverine was making himself useful, probably at Ilehana's telepathic suggestion. The next five staples came in rapid succession, but then the painkiller started to wear off. Blaze stood five more, but was exceedingly glad when Ilehana pulled away and Logan let go of her feet. She hadn't realised she's stopped breathing until she drew in her first gasping breath with relief.

Gambit peeled his hands away from Blaze's slowly, letting her clenched fists fall on her heaving chest. He glanced down at the remains of his fingerless gloves reproachfully, and then up at Ilehana. The gloves were seared away, the flesh underneath blistered and burned. The smell of burning things made Logan sneeze abruptly, the bench underneath Blaze was scalded as well. Bobby didn't need to be asked, jumping out of his seat like a man possessed.

"Leave the seat, it'll be okay." Vixen told Iceman calmly. "I don't think Blaze would appreciate having to lie on an icy bed for the rest of the journey. Gambit, show Bobby your hands."

"Ouch." Bobby winced appreciatively as Gambit peeled off the remains of his gloves with gritted teeth. Holding his hand palm downwards, Iceman sent a blast of cooling air filled with delicate ice crystals to caress Gambit's burnt skin. Remy couldn't help but sigh with relief as the pain subsided and the burning ceased to go deeper into his flesh.

"Merci mon Ami." Remy thanked his teammate sincerely, meeting Iceman's eyes with a small smile. "Much appreciated."

"No problem Gambit, glad to be of service." Bobby quipped, ducking out of the conversation to go back to his seat. They were coming up to the mansion fast, and everyone knew Cyclops' landing style. Nobody particularly wanted to be un-harnessed on the final approach. Ilehana strapped Blaze in with a harness that came up from the wall of the jet and fastened underneath the front edge of the bench, then went back to her seat. Gambit dropped onto the bench across from Blaze and fastened himself in gingerly.

"I'm sorry Remy," Blaze looked up at him mournfully. "Didn't mean to hurt you…"

"I'm used to it Cherie." Gambit answered with a reassuring grin. "Don't you worry none, it'll take more than a pair o' scalded hands to scare me off you."

Shockwave turned her head away from watching the pair in abashment. She folded her arms across her chest defensively, sniffing a little as her nose ran after her drenching. What were these people on? How on earth were they all so close to each other? The swell of jealousy she felt was only battled by the slight loneliness that made her sigh a little. Would anybody hold her hands and not be afraid of her powers if she needed them to? She doubted it very much.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** Making no money out of this

**Shattered Like Glass: Scene 07**

On departing the X-Jet, Shockwave was bundled into a war room debriefing by her tutor Cyclops' firm hand. The thing droned on for ages, and much as she wanted to she couldn't follow what was being said. Blaze did a lot of the talking, all the while holding her stomach as if afraid her intestines would somehow fall out. The thrill of being in her first X-Men meeting was numbed by Sam's feelings of guilt. If she hadn't distrusted Blaze, she wouldn't have run away from her, and she wouldn't have ended up on the fated subway train. Blaze wouldn't have chased after her and wouldn't be hurt now.

But Shockwave was not one to worry about something she had already done and couldn't change. Mostly she was tired, and was very happy when the debriefing was finally called to a close. Cyclops agreed that the best place for his young charge was bed, and spoke to her sternly that whatever punishment she had earned for breaking curfew and sneaking off would be decided tomorrow.

"Sam! Where have you been?" Wolfsbane pounced on her roommate almost as soon as Sam opened the dorm door wearily. Vertigo and Iona were there too, eyes wide with worry for their friend. "Are you all right? Were you with the X-Men? Did you get to go on the X-Jet? What happened? Was it the Brotherhood?"

"Sheesh Wolfie, calm down." Sam dropped onto her bed with a groan and kicked off her shoes. "I've just had the Spanish Inquisition from General Annoying and his goody-goody squad…"

"From who?" Vertigo raised a plucked eyebrow quizzically. "You mean Scott and the X-Men?"

"Yeah…" Sam waved a hand in the air vaguely, "Same difference. What I don't get is why the Prof was so quiet…"

"Start at the beginning." Iona advised, "We want to know everything…"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Apparently so did the rest of the world. The stress started to tell on the mansion's inhabitants. Bobby flipped and nearly iced Jubilee when his little brother appeared on one of the news channels to identify Iceman to the nation from the footage from the subway incident.

"Chill Bobby," Shadowcat had advised, "Jubilee'll do worse to you than you can do to her…"

It was slightly forced humour but Bobby appreciated it, and so did Charles Xavier. Sat in his office, he drew his telepathy away from his younger X-Men before they knew he was observing them. He couldn't help it, reaching out to his precious children at times like this, just making sure that they were all right. Perhaps he did take his telepathy a little for granted but he would be so lost with it, or without them…

The stresses of the current situation were taking their toll in another part of the vast mansion. Logan and Gambit were arguing in the garage amidst various parts of motorbikes and scattered tools. Xavier could gather from them that at some point it had been over some engineering nuance, but neither had a clear idea any more why they were mad.

"Look Gumbo, all you know how to do is pick pockets an' steal candy from babies, so don't come down here tellin' me what…"

"You t'ink you good enough to take on Gambit?" The handsome Cajun thief challenged, matching Logan's snarl with one of his own. "What you bring to dis team, eh mon Ami? Fleas?"

"Like you can talk, Swamp Rat." Wolverine countered, letting his claws slide through his knuckles as Gambit charged a handful of bolts. Xavier had heard enough.

#There are people in this world who would like nothing better than for the two of you to rip each other apart and spare them the task. I hope you are both not intending to give our enemies that satisfaction. # Devoid of wit, Xavier's telepathic rebuke made both X-Men drop their aggressive stances and scuff the floor with their boots like naughty school children. As if the Professor didn't have enough of a house full of those without his members of staff joining in.

A ringing phone brought Xavier back to his classically decorated, comfortable office. An open book lay on the desk in front of him with a cup of earl grey tea that had long gone cold. The aging gentleman sighed deeply, and reached out a knarled hand to take the phone and bring it to his ear.

"Professor Xavier." The voice at the other end was a familiar one; Samantha Hawley's father Michael. The Senator had been a great ally since his daughter's mutation had opened his eyes. He had reversed his stance completely from being totally anti-mutant, to one of the greatest and most vocal supporters of mutant welfare. Xavier didn't need telepathy to hear in the Senator's voice the same telltale sounds of stress that seconds ago had been in Gambit and Logan's voices.

"Senator Hawley," The Professor spoke as formally as the gruff man on the other end of the line. "What news?"

"Only bad my friend." Hawley glanced about him as he stood in a back corridor of the Senate chamber, watching so many of his colleagues whispering and conspiring amongst themselves. "The Defence Department was holding your brother as you had requested in a secure facility. But it wasn't secure enough, and when he broke free there were no other measures in place to bring him back under control.

"The blame is resting firmly on the President's shoulders." Hawley continued, "His stance has always been anti-mutant registration, which in the eyes of a lot of the people here is hypocrisy given that he was keeping this obvious mutant locked up in secret."

"My brother is a dangerous criminal." Xavier was forced to admit. "Criminals are registered and locked away, and whether they are human or mutant is irrelevant surely…"

"The point has been raised," Hawley admitted, "And countered. If Juggernaut was kept locked up, and if mutants like Magneto can be brought to trial, the question has been asked what of these mysterious X-Men? The President has been accused of pandering to a bunch of dangerous mutant vigilantes. He knew about your activities a long while ago Charles, a fact he cannot deny given the strength of the opposition force against him."

"Michael," Charles asked cautiously, "How strong is the opposition? What is most likely to happen?"

"It's strong Charles, and growing. The President is being flaunted as a puppet to potentially explosive mutant factions. The administration is already considering asking him to step down, but that may not be enough."

"What more could they want?" Charles asked breathlessly, eyes clouding with the fear of his worst nightmare coming to pass. Was it all his fault?

"To declare a state of national emergency, impose martial law and curfews. They would have the power to arrest any mutant on that basis alone…" Michael Hawley's voice choked a little out of worry for his little girl. "Get them out of there Charles, please, protect them. If this is decided, they will come for all of you…"

Professor Xavier replaced the handset with a careful click, pinching the bridge of his nose and drawing his brows together in mental, physical and emotional pain. Was this the end of his dream?


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** Making no money out of this

**Shattered Like Glass: Scene 08**

By the onset of the evening, the school was yet again the scene of an argument between teammates who relied on each other for their lives. The children scattered like minnows before a pike, as two X-Men once again forgot they were supposed to be setting an example.

"For crying out loud Scott, will you just grow up?" Somewhere a door slammed. Gambit twisted his head from watching TV to glance in the direction of the raised voices. The rec. room's other occupants, Sam Hawley and her friend Vertigo were leaning over a woman's magazine pretending they weren't listening in. Gambit was rather pleased that the argument appeared to be heading in this direction. He didn't want to miss out on the team leader getting an earful from Gambit's closest friend.

"You're not a thief any more Blaze, you can't just take what you want!" Scott snapped back rather like a spoilt child, striding into the rec. room with an expression like he'd just eaten something sour. Or not, as was more closely the case… "Other people have to eat too."

"I ate the last of the peanut butter," Blaze was righteously indignant, "It's hardly stealing some poor old lady's life savings! And what do you mean, I'm not a thief any more? What the hell do you know about anything Cyclops?"

Scott didn't have an answer for that, so instead turned on Gambit as the Cajun almost choked on stifled laughter.

"Have you got nothing better to do than flick channels Gambit? I thought I asked you to help Logan tune the bikes?"

"Yeah you did." Gambit acknowledged, "An' the Professor asked me not to. You got a problem, you take it up with Xavier, non?"

Scott gave up, knowing he was fighting a losing battle to keep any kind of order in this place. It didn't ease his mood that Shockwave and Vertigo suddenly burst into inappropriate giggles as he passed them. Unable to prove they were laughing at him, Cyclops contented himself with turning an unpleasant shade of red and hoped nobody else was after taking their frustrations out in the danger room tonight. Meanwhile Blaze flopped heavily down onto the sofa besides Remy, brushing her hair out of her eyes and tucking her feet up under her.

"Have you seen the state of this?" She asked her friend quietly, peeling back her shirt from her toned stomach. She revealed a patchwork of bruises in purple, black and red. Gambit winced appreciatively; it was hard not to be impressed in a gruesome kind of way.

"You sin the doc?" He asked, unable to help himself brush the stapled gash with a finger gently. Blaze nodded and pulled her top straight.

"I'm on painkillers, but Vixen says there's not much else she can do. The internal bleeding has stopped, I just have to wait for it to heal…"

"It hurt much?" Gambit asked, knowing from her raised-eyebrow glance that it was a stupid question. "Damn Juggernaut, I'se knew that mission never go so easy as the Professor say it would…"

"What, you developing precognitive powers or something Rem?" Blaze smiled, liking his concern about her as he put an arm along the back of the sofa behind her. Gambit didn't get the chance to answer, as Nightcrawler suddenly appeared in a poof! of smoke.

"Can perhaps the news be put on?" The German mutant spoke urgently, anxiety showing in his eyes as Blaze obliged. "Danke."

"Bitte." The languages teacher replied without looking over, turning the volume up louder. Storm and Shadowcat appeared in the room as well, one through the door and the other through the wall. On the large screen TV the anchorwoman finished her spiel and the image changed to a smartly dressed man on a podium in front of the White House logo.

"My fellow Americans, it is with great sorrow I stand here before you tonight. Our great nation has been overrun. Our President has personally let us become infested with terrorists and vigilantes who flaunt our laws. They feel that our rules do not apply to them, because they are mutants. What we have done today is the first step in taking our great nation back. Ordinary, law-abiding people of the United States, to you I say do not be afraid. To those mutants who cause trouble for the sake of trouble, who think themselves untouchable, know this. A state of national emergency has been called, and from the likes of you we will now take back our great country!"

"I don't like the sound of that much." Vertigo whispered to Shockwave as the X-Men started debating the announcement amongst themselves.

"Me neither." Sam agreed. "This is bad. Dad told me the national guard have been receiving special training on how to deal with mutants. The marines have been given new weapons and anti-mutant vehicles…"

"Do the X-Men know?" Vertigo asked nervously, not liking the idea of tanks pulling up in front of the mansion.

"I guess, Dad tells the Professor everything he can to help. Dad reckons that… Oh no! Dad!" Sam was on her feet and shouting desperately at the TV screen. "Leave him alone! Dad!"

As the X-Men watched in shock, sure enough a brigade of secret service men marched the President from the White House and into the back of an armoured truck. Just behind them, with a gaggle of other important men and women known to be pro-mutant, Sam Hawley's senator father was being frog-marched violently along. Clearly the senator had put up a fight, he sported a cut eye and was handcuffed.

"They can't do that! They can't do that!" Shockwave was inconsolable as Professor X rolled in solemnly. She spun to address him. "Professor you have to do something!"

"We will, Shockwave, please just calm down. We need to think this through. We can't do anything to help your father or the President until we know what we are up against here."

"Then lets go find out!" Sam snapped, stamping her foot like a truculent toddler. "Now!"


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** Making no money out of this

**Shattered Like Glass: Scene 09**

The taxi stopped on the kerb outside the offices without hesitation. The brunette who appeared wore her dyed hair in a ponytail. She was draped in a fitted knee-length beige coat with white fake fur at cuffs and on the hood. She didn't look up at the building once, merely walked towards the front door confidently. High above her on the third floor, a blind twitched as whoever was watching her arrival let go again and disappeared.

Shockwave pulled the key to her father's campaign headquarters out of her bag and unlocked the door to his office. She was half-certain that somebody would have seen her, maybe even recognised her on her way here. She couldn't let the thought of the authorities tracking her down worry her. Instead she let herself in and then turned to lock the door behind her.

"Sam?" A voice asked behind her. She spun on the spot, coming face to face with Matthew, her father's aide.

"Matt? What are you doing here?"

"I work here remember." Matthew pointed out. "What are you doing here? Your father gave Professor Xavier specific instructions to make sure you were protected. You're supposed to be going into hiding Sammy…"

"I don't know why you're concerned." Sam dismissed him with a wave of her hand. "I didn't think you even liked me."

"What kind of an accusation is that Sam? Of course I like you." Matthew protested. Matthew was dressed smartly in a shirt and trousers, with black shoes and a blue tie. He was in his mid-twenties, with smartly cropped light brown hair and hazel eyes, tall and slim-built.

"So then you'll tell me what you're doing in Dad's computer? What are you up to?"

"Protecting your dad's interests. He's been arrested for treason Sam, I have to get things tidied here before they come looking for the evidence to prove it."

"Treason?" Sam choked on the word, "My father's a patriot!"

"But he's been helping the X-Men, and the people who have had him arrested know that. If they think he's compromised homeland security by informing Xavier…"

Sam bit her fist and stood shaking her head. This was all so wrong. Matthew gave up trying to explain and went to her side with a sigh. Poor kid, she'd already lost her mother and now her dad was arrested on an offence that might well see him locked away for a very long time. Gently Matthew placed a hand on the teenager's shoulder, wondering what to possibly say.

Sam reacted instinctively, pulling closer to the human and letting him hug her. She was shaking and it had nothing whatsoever to do with her powers. Matthew's arms around her shoulders were warm and strong. She hid her face in his shirt and bit her lip, trying not to cry. Shockwave does not cry, she told herself forcefully. It will all be okay. You'll see Dad soon, and then it'll be fine. She locked her arms around Matthew's waist and took slow deep breaths. After an age, she started to feel better. Only then did she pull away from him. Matthew let his hands slip to rest lightly with his palms on each shoulder, and smiled at her.

"You alright?" He asked softly, too which Sam nodded, then looked up at him and met his worried eyes.

"I'm sorry Matthew," He almost gasped in shock as she used his full name and didn't abbreviate it just to annoy him. "I didn't know you'd be here, and now there's no time…"

"Sam, what are you on about?" Matthew was suddenly gravely concerned, as the girl turned in his hands to look to the window. At that very instant, a ruckus of noise broke out outside. It was followed by the sound of a door being bashed from its hinges. "What have you done?"

"I'm bait. The X-Men needed to know how prepared the military are…"

"What! Sam they can't use you like that! Your dad…"

"It was my idea." Sam informed him, meeting his eyes again. "I'm scared Matthew…"

"C'mon." Matthew took charge decisively. "We can get out the back way."

At that he took Shockwave's hands in his and led her to the office door. Shockwave's key was still in the lock, which he unlocked and abandoned along with all the unfinished work in the office. Matthew took Sam to a mostly disused stairwell to the rear of the building. Together they started down the stairs, only to halt at the floor below amidst growing nerves.

"They're coming up this way too!" Sam cried out as Matthew spun round and without letting go of Sam's hand dragged her back the way they had come.

"The X-Men are here right?" Matthew asked desperately.

"Just Storm, Gambit and Nightcrawler in the X-Jet, its recon only. They didn't want to get drawn into a fire fight, just rescue me and disappear again…" Sam answered, panting slightly as they ran up the steps two at a time.

"That's fine by me." Matthew decreed as they reached the top of the stairs and the door onto the roof. He shoulder-charged it, but the door was reinforced and it didn't even move.

"Don't you have a key?" Shockwave cried. Matthew shook his head and glanced past her to where the attacking force could be heard getting closer and closer. "Then stand back!" Sam ordered him. Matthew did as he was told, watching wide-eyed as Sam put her hands onto the door and let loose her mutant ability.

The wood started to hum in its frame as it vibrated. Sam concentrated harder, gasping with the pain as her finger bones vibrated so fast they became a blur. Suddenly the door cracked from top to bottom, splintering nastily. Matthew gave it a hefty kick and it flew apart, totally destroyed. With one last glance over his shoulder at the stairwell, he grabbed Sam's still shaking hand and heaved her onto the roof-space.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:** Making no money out of this

Shattered Like Glass: Scene 10 

The X-Jet arrived flying low over the building, making Sam's hair billow uncontrollably around her and Matthew's tie flap like a bird. Both of them had their faces turned upwards, they didn't notice the approaching military until the first tazer wires whipped though the air towards them. Just in time, Nightcrawler teleported in and wrapped his arms around Shockwave. She gave a small yelp of surprise before disappearing with the Elf in a cloud of smoke.

Matthew didn't fare so well. The tazer got him right in the left leg, the bolt of electricity coursing through his flesh making him stumble and fall. The X-Jet rose briefly as it came under fire, twirling on the air and passing away from the building. Matthew swore profusely. Okay so they'd got Sam back, thank God, but what about him? Were they going to just leave him here to get arrested?

He shouldn't have doubted them. This time when the jet passed back around Nightcrawler bamfed in with some back up. Gambit was sprinting away, drawing the enemy fire and charging a card before Matthew even knew what was happening.

"Lay still, mein Freund." Nightcrawler ordered, before pelting the man who held the tazer controls soundly in the stomach. The man flew backwards almost off the edge of the building, dropping the tazer. Nightcrawler unceremoniously plucked the tazer wires from Matthew's leg and flung the weapon away. With more strength than Matthew would have accredited to the slightly built German mutant, Nightcrawler hoisted Matthew up and teleported him back to the jet.

Matthew had never been teleported before. He didn't much care for the experience as the X-Jet's interior lurched into view around him. He nearly threw up, and then sat down heavily, hoping there would be a seat behind him. There was, and Sam was just across the way. She smiled at him reassuringly, or possibly smirked at the probable green colour of his face. Matthew couldn't return the expression as he rubbed the sore patch on his leg vehemently with both hands.

"I'm making another pass." Storm informed Nightcrawler as he came to stand behind her with a three fingered hand on the back of the pilot's seat. The X-Jet responded to her command, lifting to a safer altitude as they circled the roof. Still people were firing at them. Peering over Ororo's shoulder Nightcrawler watched as Gambit fended off the attacking men alone. Stood with his feet slightly apart, brown trench coat billowing around him, Gambit faced them grimly. It did not look good.

In a flash of movement, Gambit threw five or six cards at once in a spreading attack. Two of them hit, blasting armoured men in the chest and knocking them into their fellows. The others hit the rooftop, exploding in a flash of blinding kinetic energy. But Nightcrawler could see that the roof was weakening, cracks from the explosions were spreading to the edges of the building. They had to get Gambit out of there now!

"Storm hurry, I cannot teleport from so high up and so fast!"

"I know Kurt, I know!" Storm wrestled with the controls, fighting the jet's aerodynamics that made it want to carry on lifting in an updraft. "Oh no…"

Overrun by even more enemies, for every man he knocked down three more took his place, Gambit was getting uneasy. Taking his extendable staff from his pocket, he let it extend in his fingers and took it in both hands. Lifting it high above his head he filled it with his mutant power. The troops took their chance, moving closer to form a semicircle around him. He was getting pushed back towards the edge of the building and there was very little he could do about it. Waiting until they were just close enough, Gambit slammed the staff down. The weapon's impact reverberated up his arms just as his power reverberated in a ripple through the roof of the building. The kinetic power knocked many men down and sent more than one screaming over the building's edge.

Suddenly there was a whistling noise behind him, and Gambit turned just in time to see a missile hit the side of the building just below him. Already the tank that fired it was rearming and aiming at the X-Jet. Remy put a finger to the radio in his ear, his voice filling the X-Jet as he waved and shouted up at them.

"Storm go! It too dangerous! Get the…"

He never finished the sentence. The building under his feet crumbled and Gambit was pitched off the rooftop like an apple falling from a tree. Storm gasped, Shockwave cried out in terror, lurching to her feet. Nightcrawler readied himself to teleport, but Matthew put his hand on the German's shoulder just in time.

"Kurt no! We're still moving really fast, you'll be killed!" Kurt blinked and nodded, turning his face away as Gambit's body hit a bus shelter roof and went through it. Spotting the tank aiming straight at them, Storm cried out again.

"Everybody hang on!" The Weather Witch plunged them into a steep ascent, dragging them out of harms way.

"Is he alright?" Sam gasped, clutching onto a seat with all her strength as they pulled away. "Is Gambit alright?"

"I don't know." Storm answered, aiming the X-Jet back towards the mansion, knowing as Gambit had there was nothing that could be done. "I don't know…"


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:** Making no money out of this

**A/N:** Aww, c'mon folks, leave me a review. I'd really really really appreciate it? Don't make me get down and beg, it won't be pretty. I'll quite happily review you right back again, honest.

**Shattered Like Glass: Scene 11**

"What happened?" Logan knew something had gone wrong as soon as the X-Jet opened up and Shockwave staggered out with Kurt's arm supporting her.

"Gambit…" Storm tried to explain. "He fell… We couldn't do anything…"

"What!" Blaze keened, eyes wide in horror. "No! Storm…"

"Is he still alive?" Wolverine asked, placing a hand on Blaze's shoulder that she shrugged off violently.

"He is." The voice was Professor X's, coming in directly from Cerebro. "Gambit is not only alive, he is for the most part uninjured. He says to tell you that Storm did the only thing she could." Xavier looked piercingly at Blaze, who did look like she was about to spontaneously combust poor Ororo.

"Why do I feel there's a 'but' coming?" Storm moaned apathetically.

"He has however been taken captive by the same troops that came after Shockwave." Xavier sighed heavily. "At the moment he is in transit, but so confident that escape will be a possibility that he has requested that we hold off on any rescue attempt until he has gathered more information."

"Gumbo'd still be cocky if he was goin' one on one with Apocalypse with his hands tied behind his back Professor. " Wolverine didn't sound convinced. "You sure he's up to this?"

"I have faith in him Wolverine. But you are right, he may well need assistance earlier than he would probably call for it himself." Xavier turned from his X-Men, Matthew and Sam and headed back the way he'd come. "Which is why I will be in Cerebro. Raise the alert level, we may have to move at a moment's notice."

"I don't like this." Blaze muttered darkly. "I really don't like this." Truthfully all her nerves were screaming that this was very wrong. Wolverine could relate, he wasn't too impressed with the whole thing either, but there wasn't a thing they could do about it. Not that he'd try and tell Blaze that, as she stormed off to a back corner of the hangar and preceded to kick a can of engine oil against the wall viciously.

"Lets get you two to the infirmary and get you checked out." Logan suggested to Sam and Matthew. They nodded synchronously, both looking dazed. With Kurt supporting Sam and Logan being Matthew's crutch, the four of them left the hangar. Only Storm hung back.

"I only did what I had to Blaze." Ororo tried to explain, holding her hands out placatingly towards the fire elemental. "It would have been a whole lot easier if we hadn't had to rescue Matthew as well…"

"Don't try and pass the blame Storm, it doesn't suit you." Blaze snapped.

"What would you rather I did if not explain this as best I can for both of us?" Storm retorted right back, staring Blaze down.

"As far as I'm concerned, you can go wallow in it." Blaze returned, stomping past her friend and back into the subbasement levels. "Just be grateful he's not dead…"

"Blaze I am grateful!" Storm didn't like the suggestion that she wasn't concerned about Gambit's safety.

"I meant for your own safety Storm. If he was dead, you'd be cremated." With that, Blaze was gone. Storm could only shudder, troubled by Blaze's sudden darkness. She hadn't been the same girl since her first mission to extract information out of Pyro over a month ago. Ororo could only hope that if that chapter was over, Blaze might yet come round to herself again…


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** Making no money out of this

**Shattered Like Glass: Scene 12**

It was a while later when Professor Xavier finally reconvened the team in the war room. Every X-Man was present, even Ilehana now that Sam and Matthew had been given clean bills of health. There was a sombre, tense mood hovering over all the team like a spiteful shadow. All the team had already changed into their uniforms, ready to depart to rescue Gambit at a second's notice. But it was Blaze with whom the wait was telling the most dramatically. Blaze sat cross-legged in her seat, tapping the floor impatiently with her foot. Her face was taunt and pale, her arms folded tightly over her belly as she ignored all attempts to make conversation with her or even check that she was holding up okay.

"I fear we have a problem that can not easily be solved." Xavier addressed his team sombrely, including them all in a worried glance he took about him. "I'm afraid…" His words hung in the air for a moment as his eyes came to rest on Blaze and the empty chair next to her. "That Gambit has betrayed us. To save his life, he has agreed to provide the military with information on the X-Men and the school."

Absolute silence greeted Xavier's words. Disappointment shone in the eyes of more than one X-Man, along with fear and even acceptance. Scott felt a little justified, he'd never liked the fact that they were offering a home to an increasing number of wanted criminals. Especially criminals with no particular wish to be reformed. Naming no names, which was obviously something the man in question was incapable of doing.

"But," Jubilee was Gambit's defender, eyes wide in disbelief. "But Gambit wouldn't do that. He's not a traitor, he can't be…"

"Accept it Jubilee." Scott counselled sagely. "A leopard can't change its spots. Put Gambit in a tight spot and he'd sell his own soul. Even Blaze isn't denying its possible."

All eyes fell on a pale-looking Blaze sat pouting and staring at the tabletop. Her hands gripped the edge of her seat so tightly it was beginning to melt round the edges. When she met Scott's eyes, he had to take a breath at the solemn enmity he found there.

"What?" Blaze began sensibly enough. "And call the Professor a liar to his face?" With that she stood, pushing back her chair. It scraped over the hard tiled floor, screeching to cover the awkward silence that consumed the X-Men. Without looking back, Blaze left the room.

"Couldn't you do anything?" Bobby asked the Professor urgently, but he only shook his head, rubbing the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger.

"Blaze will do what she thinks is right, even if her sense of that is less black and white than the rest of us…" Charles sighed wearily. He was genuinely sorry to be losing two of his precious children. "I had the choice with Gambit. I could have erased from his mind all traces of the X-Men to protect us. But in doing so I would be signing his death warrant, as his captors would most certainly have no further use for him. I'm sorry, my X-Men, there is nothing I can do."

"I can't believe Gambit would do this!" Jubilee wailed, "He can't be a traitor, he can't be!"

"No more than Blaze is hotwiring Scott's bike." Ilehana reported stoically, having just pulled away from touching Blaze's thoughts. The quantity of bad language the redhead had been thinking was enough to make even a wolf blush. Problem was, Vixen didn't know if the abuse was aimed at the X-Men, at Gambit or at herself. Come to think of it, Vixen doubted if Blaze knew whom she was most angry at.

"Damn it." Scott cursed a lot less effectively that the fire elemental, yet still as vile as his language ever got. "Doesn't she know where the keys are yet?"

"Oh she knows." The Professor confirmed. "I think she's just making a point."

"That 'once a thief, always a thief' waffle again?" Logan questioned, joining Scott, Ilehana, Storm and the Professor in heading upstairs. "Says a lot for the reformation principles of the justice system don't you think?"

"Quite." Xavier senior responded. "Though you seem to be neglecting the fact that as far as she lets on, Blaze has never been arrested."

"Bet she's no stranger to handcuffs though…" Was Wolverine's opinion. The five teachers blinked as they passed through the front doors of the mansion. At that very moment, the redheaded English girl blasted around the corner of the building on Scott's motorbike. Helmet-less, she half-stood, half-leaned forwards towards the handlebars. Gravel sprayed up behind her to chip windows on the mansion's ground floor, even as Charles gently and telepathically enquired #Where are you going? #

Blaze didn't respond, mostly because at that precise moment a yellow taxicab pulled up at the bottom of the driveway. Blaze didn't pull up either, driving the hyper-powered machine straight at the figure that climbed out. At the last second she possibly could, she put the bike into a sideways slide, engine idling. Scott winced as the bike's paintwork was grated like cheese on the gravel. Adeptly Blaze jumped over the fallen machine.

Fist clenched she went to punch Gambit's light's out. He caught her small fist in his larger palm in a lightning fast reaction. Gripping her hand tightly, he made something in her shoulder audibly crack. Logan winced as his heightened hearing made the noise go right through him. Blaze merely broke eye contact with her friend and slumped forwards into his arms. She buried her head in his hug and let her arms fall limply to either side. Anxious as the showdown was, Vixen couldn't help but part with a small smile as she spotted Blaze thwack Gambit soundly in the right shin for not letting her punch him.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer:** Making no money out of this

**Shattered Like Glass: Scene 13**

"What did you tell 'em Bub?" Logan snarled, leading the small posse of X-Men towards the errant Cajun. "How many of these kid's lives do you reckon your rotten skin is worth?"

"What you talkin' 'bout eh Wolverine? I not tell nobody nothin'." The Cajun seemed genuinely offended at the suggestion.

"I know what I saw through Cerebro Gambit." The Professor informed him calmly. Gambit's eyes narrowed suspiciously as he stepped past Blaze to look each X-Man in the eye in turn. The Professor, Logan, Scott, Ilehana… All were bristling at the Professor's accusation. He met Storm's eyes last, but she couldn't hold the contact.

"I'm sorry Gambit." She apologised sincerely. "I never should have left you on your own. You never should have been put in this situation."

"Save it Storm." Remy spat, "Don't none of you trust Gambit?" The only response to his question was averted eyes and hard expressions. Gambit turned unceremoniously to go back down the drive. "Then Gambit don't need nobody."

Blaze took one last look at the mansion that had been her home, sighed, and fell in step behind her friend. Remy neither acknowledged her nor drove off without her as he picked up the fallen bike and started the stalled engine. Whatever information he had collected, Xavier belatedly realised, was about to ride off into the sunset with the thieves. Perhaps a truce was in order.

#Wait Gambit. # Gambit stopped the bike.

#Come back. We need to talk about this; about what information you may have for us. # Gambit couldn't tell if Xavier's telepathic presence made him climb back off the bike and turn to face the Professor, or if it was just the way the words were conveyed. Blaze's confused expression and muttered curses as he left her sat on the bike didn't help. But he'd not come back here as a traitor. He'd come back to help, not leave the X-Men to struggle against the inevitable alone. For out of all of them, Xavier included, Gambit was the only one who knew just how bad the future was going to be.

Gambit didn't stop the talk to Logan or the others on his way past. Xavier had already started back to the subbasement levels. Remy followed at a semi-respectful distance, aware that Blaze and the rest were trailing along behind.

"Blaze will you let me look at your shoulder?" Ilehana asked as Blaze passed the X-Men and blanked them. The redhead was rubbing a point on the curve of her neck, just where the force of Gambit stopping her punch would have hit. "It its sore…"

"Its fine." Blaze closed the conversation before it had even begun. She strode on ahead and looped Gambit's arm around her neck. The rebuke hung heavily on the air like the fragrance of something rotting. Scott and Ilehana exchanged glances whilst Remy and Blaze put their heads together, mumbling rapidly in French. Gambit's fingers explored the knot he'd caused in Blaze's muscle, kneading it gently.

The way Gambit was acting, Blaze too in fact, made it seem as though they were the ones being betrayed. They raised barriers to the X-Men physically with folded arms and tense shoulders, and emotionally with blank face and brooding eyes. They even raised barriers to Ilehana and her father's telepathic abilities, subconsciously as that may have been. In turn as the group re-entered the briefing room, it was into an icy frost that would have rivalled the last ice age.

Humans are creatures of habit, and no mutant was exception to that. Habit dictated that during a briefing, the X-Men sat in the same seats and next to the same comrades at the large Arthurian style round table. It didn't really matter; nobody would lose out if people sat in different places. But when today Gambit sat not only on the first seat he came to, Ilehana's, but also turned the chair the wrong way round to sit on it with his trench coat handing smoothly behind him, it got on everyone's nerves.

Blaze didn't bother to sit at all. Ceding her place to the dislodged metamorph, she loitered at the back. But by hugging the wall as though she was a catalogue model posing for a rather moody photograph, she didn't exactly ease irritations.

"I don't know what you t'ought you overheard Professor." Gambit had at least retained some respect in his tone for the X-Men's founder. In return for that boon, Charles gave Remy his undivided attention and didn't attempt to defend himself. "But I didn't tell those scum nothin'."

"Then how come you're here, not to mention in one piece?" Scott didn't appreciate that his comments would annoy the Cajun.

"I bin screwin' folk all my life Cyclops," Remy snapped nastily, "You t'ink I ain't got damn good at it by now?" Blaze had to bite her bottom lip to keep from somewhat inappropriate laughter at Gambit's statement and Scott's resulting expression.

"I ain't told 'em nothin' they don't already know." Gambit continued, talking straight to the Professor and blanking everyone else. "But they know more than I t'ink any of us t'ought they did. I could've told 'em the Professor's shirt size an' it wouldn't have come as no surprise. This place ain't safe no more. They'll be comin' for all of us, and they prepared."


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer:** Making no money out of this

**Shattered Like Glass: Scene 14**

For a moment, silence. Then like a wave breaking suddenly on a rock, Gambit's words stirred a spray of emotion-filled voices.

"Convenient, Gumbo, very convenient." Wolverine challenged the Cajun, making Gambit press his lips into a thin line. "You didn't tell 'em nothin', but they just happen to know everything anyway?"

"He came back didn't he?" Jubilee protested, backed up by a nodding Shadowcat. "Either he's innocent, or he's the stupidest traitor ever."

"How 'bout we skin him anyway, just to be sure." Logan growled, standing and releasing his claws. Remy barely flinched.

"We wont have much time." Cyclops announced. "Who told them what doesn't matter, if they are coming to close us down…"

"The plan is already in place." Xavier felt suddenly exhausted. He knew this plan would essentially mean the end of his X-Men, his dream. But looking about him at the arguments raging between his team members, some time apart might do them all good. Besides, the safety of the school's pupils was the first priority. Xavier looked to his daughter, who nodded singularly. She agreed. It was time.

"Each of you will take a group of students to a safe house. The safe houses are prepared for your arrival, and there will be other adults there to help you. However to maintain the security of the locations, only one safe house will be given to each X-Man. You won't know where the rest of the team and the pupils have gone."

Several pairs of accusing eyes fell on Gambit. He ignored them.

"What about you Professor?" Storm questioned. "Will we still be able to contact you?"

"It would be safest if you did not, as I will be remaining here where I belong."

"But Professor!" Kurt exclaimed even as Scott decreed, "Then I stay too!"

"That won't be necessary." Ilehana told her childhood friend. "I'm staying with him. We'll be fine."

"I'm really not sure about this Professor…" Scott tried to smile and failed, already imagining all the horrid things that might happen whilst he was absent.

"I have very little choice Scott. If I stay here I can keep working to calm the situation. It is the only way." Charles smiled genuinely at his foster son, and then lifted his chin to include the whole group in that gesture. "I will call you to my office in turns to give you your directions. The less any individual knows, the safer we all are against an enemy like this. When you instruct your groups of children, I suggest you ensure they pack light. Remind them they are on the run, not on a field trip…"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A little while later, Scott took his turn to be instructed by Xavier. The directions he was given were not drafted shabbily onto some bit of paper nor printed off the Internet. Rather the Professor preferred to place his fingertips on the temples of his student and imprint the details directly into Scott's willing mind.

"J..J…Jean's folk's place?" Cyclops paled rapidly, his stomach lurching at the thought. "Professor I can't, I mean…"

"They've missed you Scott." Charles spoke kindly. "You hurt them when you didn't return their calls or reply to their letters. They didn't just lose Jean that day, they also lost the man they thought of as their son."

It was the right tactic to take with the orphan. Ashamed and abashed, Cyclops nodded. Swallowing his emotions he left the office, passing Ororo and Kurt embracing hesitantly, yet another friendship sundered over this.

"You're up." Cyclops informed Logan distractedly. "You too Gambit, looks like the Professor is pairing you off."

"Say anythin' Gumbo an' I'll slice your tongue out. You too Firefly." Logan growled in the direction of the thieves.

"What, other than this bein' some kinda mistake?" Gambit returned, looking from Wolverine to Blaze. He was clearly wondering why she wasn't included. Everyone else had already been assigned now, why hadn't the Professor spoken to Blaze? He couldn't have overlooked her, could he?

"Hyperactive imagination Wolverine. You have to lower any innocent comment to the worst level and then imagine everyone else is thinking like you." Blaze lectured, sounding weary. Eyeing each other apprehensively, the two men want through the office door and closed it behind them. Blaze sighed.

**A/N:**Ok, this time I'm begging... Please review... Please? I don't want essays, just a quick heads up would be good if you have the time? Thanks so much,from a truly apathetic Lamby


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer:** Making no money out of this

**A/N: **Sincere aplogies about the length of time this update has taken. I have been beseiged by major computer gremlins. Back online now though, obviously, and am posting to the end of this fic tonight. I'll get back in the swing of things probably next week with a few more new stories, including Shades of Heroes Part Two. All the best and thanks for your patience, Lamby

**Shattered Like Glass: Scene 15**

"Ah Logan, Remy, come have a seat." Xavier greeted them as calmly as ever. The two X-Men glanced at each other as if for support. Belatedly they realised they weren't getting along, causing them to both sit down heavily in the nearest chair and rather juvenilely pretend the other one wasn't there.

How can Chuck be so calm, Wolverine thought anxiously. Our whole damn world's falling apart, Gambit's turned traitor, and yet the Prof's acting as of this whole thing is a walk in the park…

#It comes from years of practice Logan.# Xavier's mind voice was amused despite his weariness. #I find keeping a clear head the best way to deal with any crisis. Besides with Gambit I feel we must proceed with the philosophy of innocent until proven guilty. However…#

"I have a special assignment for you both." How Xavier moved from one-on-one mind communication with Wolverine to speaking aloud in a continuation of what he was saying, yet not letting Gambit know that anything telepathic had been said, Logan would never know. He was good at it though.

"I know neither of you would choose to run from a problem or baby-sit a group of children. So instead I propose something a little different. I need a distraction, something to draw attention away from the school whilst we evacuate the children."

"So what did you have in mind?" Logan asked aloud. He was thinking #Why do I get landed babysittin' Gumbo? I'd rather take the kids…#

"Sabretooth has been spotted in New Mexico." Xavier confessed. #Because we can't afford a loose cannon Logan. Gambit cannot be left to his own devices just in case he is tempted to go back to the enemy and fill them in on our plans. Of course if you'd rather not have the responsibility, I'm sure Ilehana will step in…#

Wolverine half-snarled at the threat, the flirtatious relationship between Ilehana and the Cajun not something he approved of.

"Easy Wolverine, no need to claw the Professor's eyes out jus' at the mention of your hairy ex." Gambit thought Logan was snarling at the mention of Sabretooth and put a dig in accordingly.

"Shut your mouth Cajun." Logan warned him, glaring. "I've had about enough of you today to last me a lifetime."

"That's decided then." Xavier cut in before the argument could escalate. "The coordinates are programmed into the X-Jet already. When you have taken Sabretooth down a peg, I suggest you lie low for a while, but keep an eye on events here should we need your talents. Good luck gentlemen."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Professor?" Blaze peered around the door, hesitantly, hugging the wood. He still hadn't asked to see her, and everyone else had long since headed off to make his or her preparations. Logan and Remy would be leaving any minute in the jet, the students were being divided up, and Blaze didn't like feeling so insecure.

"Blaze." Charles beckoned her in with a sad smile. "I'm sorry my dear, I didn't mean to take so long to speak to you. I have been waiting on a telephone call that has only just ended."

Blaze frowned at this, closing the door gently. Suddenly the mansion's windows started to shake in their frames, the X-Jet was taking off from under the basketball court. Blaze and Xavier went to the window, each of them momentarily lost in their thoughts as Logan and Gambit made their exit in fitting style. Only when the jet had disappeared from sight did Blaze take a seat.

"Who were you on the phone to?" She asked, no quite understanding the significance.

"One of my field operatives. We've talked about this before Blaze, about what you wanted to happen if ever the X-Men were disbanded under threat from the government…"

"I don't want to stay in the US. I don't want anyone to link me with my daughter." Blaze let a touch of panic edge into her voice. "I have to protect her any way I can."

"I understand, Blaze." Xavier came across and took one of Blaze's hands in his own softly knarled ones. "It's a commendable ideal, one which I have found a way to work to the X-Men's advantage.

"I have been speaking with Stifle." Xavier continued. "I don't believe the two of you have ever met. She has a problem she would like some assistance in dealing with. A gang of troubled mutant teenagers that are not responding to her offers to help train them. She feels they are becoming a danger to themselves and the general populace."

"Where?" Blaze asked, so grateful that Xavier would find her a field mission when she needed it most. That gratitude didn't last very long though as Xavier revealed where it was Blaze was being sent to. Of all the nations on the planet, even the ones where she had extensive criminal records, this one was the worst. Her home, the place she had grown up in. Where she had accidentally murdered her parents when her powers first emerged.

"Manchester, England."


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer:** Making no money out of this

Shattered Like Glass: Scene 16 

"Matthew…"

Matthew turned hesitantly at the sound of a troubled voice. It was Blaze, looking pale and wide-eyed. They'd barely spoken since she'd shot him down when he asked her out. Now as she came towards him all that was forgotten and he went to take her hands in his in a comforting gesture.

"Blaze? Are you alright?"

"I don't know… I…" She was shaking, so he guided her to the sofa in the rec. room, sitting besides her and not letting go of her hands.

"I heard Gambit and Wolverine just left. Are they not taking kids into hiding like everyone else? What about you, have you got a group?" He spoke softly, trying to get her to focus on his voice.

"I don't know what the Professor's asked Rem and Logan to do, but I don't think it involves any of the children." Blaze frowned, clearly struggling to think straight. "I'm not taking any either, I…" She tailed off.

"You what?" Matthew asked.

"I'm leaving America, the Professor has a field mission for me." Blaze finally met Matthew's worried eyes. At that moment, Sam flounced into the room with Vertigo and several others behind her. Sam stopped dead when she saw Blaze and Matthew holding hands, putting her fists on her hips and scowling.

"Not interrupting anything are we?" Shockwave quipped, making Blaze extract her hands from Matthew's as both adults looked at the teen. When neither of them answered Sam, she pressed on by herself.

"Well we're your group, Blaze. Me, Ver, Wolfie and Iona, along with Berserker, Cannonball and Cannonball's little brother Jay. A couple more kids from French and half a dozen from your tutor group. That's less than everyone else, but Cyclops reckoned you needed a break with me in the group, seeing as the military are already after me."

"But you just said…" Matthew frowned at Blaze, "Are you taking them out of the country as well?"

"No, I'm not supposed to have a group." Blaze shook her head. "I don't have a safe house address or anything. Where's Cyclops, we need to split you lot up and put you in the other groups…"

"Oh no you don't." Sam demanded, linking arms with Vertigo possessively. "You're not splitting us up so you can get out of your responsibilities."

"Please Blaze, don't separate us…" Wolfsbane begged before Blaze could respond to Shockwave.

"Yeah, we're all scared here." Iona pointed out. "We don't want to be sent away, and we definitely don't want to be separated from our best friends."

"Join the club." Blaze pointed out. "I'm sorry, but there's no other way…"

"Yes there is." Matthew cut in, looking at Shockwave and co carefully. "I can take them."

"You'd do that?" Blaze and Sam both asked at the same time.

"Hey I'm on the run too, remember. May as well have company."

"Cool!" Sam grinned, running to hug Matthew possessively as he and Blaze stood. "Thanks Matt!" She then departed, calling to her crew to come help pack. Blaze and Matthew shared a bemused glance.

"Well that seems to have got her back to normal." Matthew pointed out.

"Remember Matthew, she's only seventeen. Don't let her boss you about because she will try and take over." Blaze hugged him warmly, smiling a little. "Thank you so much for doing this. If you go to the Professor, he'll tell you where there's a safe house."

"Its okay Laura." Matthew told her, holding her gently. He didn't notice Blaze wince at the use of her real name. "Sam's right, things do have to be done a little differently with her in the group. I've got a safe place I can take them, and if the Professor doesn't know where she is he can't be at risk of having that knowledge taken from him."

"All right." Blaze agreed, freeing herself from his arms. "Take care of them, and yourself Matthew."

"I will, and good luck Blaze. Whatever it is that's worrying you, it'll turn out fine, I'm sure."

"I wish I had your confidence." Blaze said softly.

"I wish I had your mobile number," Matthew joked, "But we can't always have everything we want, can we?"


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer:** Making no money out of this

Shattered Like Glass: Scene 17 

The mansion was eerily quiet. Ilehana walked through the corridors alone, pondering how loud the floorboards creaked as she trod them alone. Somewhere on the staff floor a door banged once or twice. Blaze must have left her window open. Ilehana made a mental note that it would need closing, now they had all gone.

Rounding a corner, Vixen saw something in the corner of her eye. She turned silently, almost trying not to make any sound for fear of disturbing the ghostly emptiness about her. She bent down to pick up the abandoned item, stretching out long fingers lift it off the carpet. Straightening her back, she looked at the toy. A tiny brown teddy bear that only had one eye. It was so moth-eaten; one ear completely chewed off and bare patches in its fur, it could only have been someone's favourite memento of early childhood. Ilehana held it to herself in a moment of rarely seen tenderness, before pushing open the nearest dorm door.

The room was a bombsite. The occupants had hastily abandoned packing as Cyclops' call to roll out echoed through the floor. Dirty clothes and unwashed pots vied with neatly folded scarves and stacks of schoolbooks in every corner of the room. Gently Ilehana placed the teddy down on one pillow, making sure he was sat up before leaving the room again. She closed the door sadly behind her, closing the door on an era.

She joined her father on the front of the mansion shortly after the lockdown of the subbasement had been completed. It would take whoever came a very long time to work out how to get down to Cerebro and the other rooms of the X-Men's labyrinth. Not that they would not try and probably eventually succeed. The cavalcade that drove up to the front of the mansion now seemed a bit of overkill to take out two mutants. Then again thanks to Logan and Remy's distraction, the military did not know that only the two Xaviers were still at home. Her heart went out to Logan, and she hoped he would follow her father's advice and lie low for a while. She was helpless to help him.

"Professor Charles Xavier." A man in a general's uniform greeted Ilehana's father, uttering the name like a threat in itself. "We meet at last. I am General Kincaid, I wonder if perhaps you have heard of me?"

"I'm sorry to say that I haven't." Xavier responded in kind as Ilehana placed her hand on the back of his wheelchair. "Can I ask what this is about?"

"You must know." Kincaid replied, "You seem to have been busy preparing for this day. Where the rest of your mutant army are, we will discuss later. For now, I would ask that you cooperate with my men. It would make things easier for all of us."

"Are we under arrest?" Ilehana asked shortly, making Kincaid look at her for the first time.

"House arrest only for now, Vixen." He waved forwards two men in lab coats. The scientists proceeded to approach the Xaviers armed with small metal collars. "It is felt that your incarceration or disposal will turn you into martyrs for your cause. I cannot allow this to happen. If you don't mind…"

The Xaviers did mind, but there was no option. The collars snapped shut and both telepaths immediately felt weak and empty. Their telepathy, their innate link to the world around them, to people's thoughts, feelings and desires was stopped short like the breath in their throats.

"The collars contain a proximity neural inhibitor. Don't try and take them off, they are also packed with explosives that will detonate if tampered with. Also I know all about your animorphing capabilities Vixen. If you feel like taking a stroll outside of the mansion's grounds, think again. You have heard of dog collars with built in sensors? If the dog leaves the garden, it passes through a sensor net, and the dog gets an electric shock. So your collar also works, only on a much more violent level. We will have no wolves wandering the streets of Westchester looking for mutants to recruit."

Vixen went a shade greyer, feeling her freedom that she so loved flying out the window. Xavier looked to his daughter with deep sympathy in his kindly blue eyes. She had not had to stay, she could have gone and disappeared like the rest of them. Still she stood by her father, and for that he would be eternally grateful.

"Get them inside and set up a perimeter." Kincaid ordered his men angrily. "We have other X-Men to take care of today…"

The End


End file.
